The ‘Upside Down’ of Strangers Things Season 1 *(WARNING, THIS BLOG INCLUDES SPOILERS)!

With the return of Stranger Things on the 27th October our inner geeks are on anticipation level 1000. We are buzzing like a bunch of broken fairy lights with pure excitement at what is going to unfold in season 2. Firstly though let’s look back at season 1…

It all began so innocently with a game of Dungeons & Dragons in Mike’s basement and nothing crazy ever happens on D&D night, right? Wrong! As this was the fateful night that saw the sudden disappearance of Will Buyers which kicks of the season perfectly and had us instantly hooked. Mike and Will are part of a Stand by Me-esque friend group which also includes Dustin and Lucas. These four kids are geeky and quirky, your stereotypical school losers and we love them for it.

Now the search for Will begins and with the adults failing miserably, the kids decide to get involved to do some real investigating. At this point we are convinced that Will is missing but still alive, then in an unpredictably sad twist Wills body is discovered. Search over. Tears. Season done. Nope, the boys reject the idea that Will is dead and start to discover clues that lead them to believe that Will may have been pulled into a parallel dimension called the ‘Upside Down’ by a terrifying Demogorgon demon.

This is where Eleven (El) stumbles into the lives of this geeky gang. Eleven is a hard-core heroine with supernatural powers who has escaped from an institution which abused her powers to explore the Upside Down. Her past means she has extensive knowledge of the parallel dimension where Will is trapped and agrees to help the boys retrieve their friend. Will’s mum (portrayed by Wynona Ryder) also plays a part in the mission by communicating with Will using a cool fairy light Ouija board of energy.

Whilst all this is going on we also have a serious love triangle developing between Nancy (Mike’s big sister), Steve (Ewwww) and Jonathan (Will’s older brother and all round good guy). Elevens abuser, nicknamed Papa, is not letting her go easy and has his men out in full force to find her. Barb (poor Barb, everyone is looking for Will and no one bats an eyelid about Barb)! is also missing and sadly dies an almost meaningless death in the Upside Down. Meanwhile the whole town is convinced that Will’s mum Joyce (who’s been trying to convince everyone she’s been contacted from another world by her missing son) is losing it. Oh and we are watching El and Mike fall in love in an awkward but oh so lovely pre-teen way.

It turns out that the way into the Upside Down and the only way to save Will is in the institution which El has escaped from. In some pretty intense scenes on the school grounds the bad-to-bone fivesome fight off the government agents. El messes them up big style and then disappears, no-one knows where she goes. Joyce with the help of copper Hopper storms the Upside Down through the lab where they find Will alive, just.

So the season ends on a kind of high. The gang completed their quest, Will is home and healthy. Or is he, after we see him cough up some kind of Upside Down slug and flash back to the other dimension we think not. We still aren’t sure where exactly Eleven is and poor Mike is heartbroken, although he tries to pretend he isn’t. Also Hopper is seen leaving some Eggos (Elevens favourite waffle treat) in the woods, so she must be near? Nancy is still with Steve and Barb is definitely still dead, not that anyone seems to care.

Now we have season 2 to answer our questions and entertain us with an incredible cast, quirky storyline, an abundance of well-timed famous movie and book references and hopefully a deeper dive in to the Upside Down.

Let us know how you rate the new season, comment below or tell us on Twitter.

Ellen MacGregor

Ellen is the digital content assistant for Slaters, her role is to make sure all the products on the website have awesome descriptions and great images. Her fave things include summiting Scotland’s numerous munros, listening to rock music and going to as many movies and gigs as possible.